over the last month when turning on free Avast One VPN, it no longer will allow me to go to aol.com or gmail.google.com
First, I’m an Avast user and not an Avast Team member.
I also don’t use any VPN Avast or otherwise, so I can’t test or speak from personal experience.
I don’t know if this is more the site blocking VPN traffic - this is becoming more common - though for the two sites mentioned I would think that strange.
Same here! Started about a month ago VPN on = no access to AOL or Gmail. Turn it off and everything works fine. Super annoying.